Jury to continue deliberating in ex-South Carolina cop’s murder trial

The judge told the jurors they needed to apply their common sense and understanding of common words and phrases.

In a letter read from the bench by Judge Clifton Newman, the dissenting juror wrote, “I understand the position of the court, but I can not in good conscience consider a guilty verdict”. One long note from a single juror told the judge that he or she can not in good conscience.

They have deliberated more than 16 hours over three days in the case against Michael Slager in the shooting death of Walter Scott.

Prosecutors gave jurors the option of convicting Slager on a murder or manslaughter charge, but it appeared Friday that the panel can’t decide on either.

The judge in the case will reportedly speak to the jury and declare a mistrial.

The day ended with the exhausted jury recessing until Monday morning when deliberations will resume. After firing several shots at a distance, the video shows Slager walking up and placing something beside Scott’s body. Winkler believes high profile cases likely often produce deadlocked juries because jurors know they will be scrutinized over their decision.

Slager testified for the first time in the trial on Tuesday and told the court that life has been a “nightmare” since the fatal shooting. The jury began deliberating Wednesday. The video clearly shows Scott fleeing as Slager guns him down from a significant distance. The prosecution argued that Scott did not have the Taser when he was shot, and that he was trying to get away from Slager at the time, not cause harm. It’s also possible Slager could head off a second trial by pleading to a lesser charge in exchange for a short prison stint-a manslaughter sentence in SC ranges from two to thirty years without parole.

Last year, two juries deadlocked on a murder charge against a white former Eutawville, South Carolina, police chief accused of killing a black man in 2011 after an argument about a traffic ticket issued to the man’s daughter. When Scott fled, he said the two men wrestled and that he grabbed the officer’s Taser and pointed at him.

“I was scared” and in “total fear that Mr. Scott didn’t stop” resisting arrest, Slager said. Murder requires that Scott had malice toward Scott, whereas manslaughter is considered a crime of passion, i.e., Scott’s reasoning was impaired somehow by his emotional state.

Slager also faces a federal civil rights charge stemming from the shooting and could face up to life in prison if convicted in that case. Months of protests followed the release of the video, ultimately forcing North Charleston police to agree to settle an historic US$6.5 million lawsuit brought by Scott’s family.